Electrical tramway or railway rail.



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ELECTRICAL TRAMWAY. 0R RAILWAY RAIL.'

P?LIOATION FILED AYE. I4. 1903.

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UNITED STATES i Patented September 29, 1903. Y

PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY MALCOLM BIGWOD AND HORACE MALCOLM BIGWOOD, OF WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND.

ELECTRICAL TRAIVIVVAY OR RAILWAY RAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Lettersl 'atent No. 739,819, dated September 29, 1903.

Application nea April 14, 1903.

To all whom t may concern:

Beit knownthat weJIENRY MALCOLM Bid WOOD and HORACE MALCOLM Blowoon, engineers, subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing at 131 Penn road, Wolverhampton, in the county of Staord, England, have in- Vented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Tramway or Railway Rails, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the rails of electrical tramways and railways, and comprises the improvements hereinafter described and claimed.

^ The principal feature of the invention is an inexpensive and reliable method of electrically bonding or connecting the adjacent ends of rail lengths, such method providing a concealed electrical boudin g or connection which cannot be tampered with, which is not liable to be affected by atmospheric conditions, and which is extremely neat in its application.

By the aid ofthe accompanying sheet of drawings and the description hereinafter appearing the invention will be fully and clearly understood.

In Figure 1 of the drawings a transverse vertical section is shown; in Fig. 2, a longitudinal section; in Fig. 3, a longitudinal diagram on a smaller scale than Fig. 2; and in Fig. 4, in transverse vertical section, a modification.

In the drawings the rail, vwhichis a tramway-rail, is built up of two portions, an vupper portion aand a lower portion o, each por-v tion being rolled separate and of a desired and suitable cross-section and being adapted to be connected rigidly to each other, so that the part a forms the tread of the rail and the part c the base of the rail, by suitable means-as, for instance, by transverse bolts d, fitted with nuts di, the said bolts passing through holesl in the'web o2 of the portion c and through a de pending flange o2 of the portion c, these bolts being at such distances apart in the lengths of the portions, as will be clearly seen from Fig. 3, as to firmly and rigidly hold the said portions together as if one piece without the aid of Yfish-plates. The portion @when worn can be' renewed without in any way interfering with the portion o by detaching it from the portion c and substituting for it a new portion to form the tread of the rail, and in this Serial No. 152,592. (No model.)

particular' it is desired to point out that the end joints of the portions ci and c come intermediate or so that the one portion breaks joint with the other portion, this being clearly shown by the longitudinal diagram', Fig, 3. A horizontal flange e is preferably provided upon the portion o to form a bedding-surface at the upper part of the said portion for the portion o to lie upon,

When the upper portion o. is being rolled, a longitudinal groove f is formed within its under side, this groove being preferably the full length of the portion and also preferably with taper sides, as clearly shown by Fig. 1.

Within this groove, so as to electrically loond or make joint between two of such portions a at the joint of said two portions, is inserted a short length of copper or other suitable conducting bar or piece g,-this bar or piece extending each side the joint of the said two portions for some distance, as is clearly shown by Fig. 2. In this Fig. 2, o, ct are the two upper portions, making joint at h, and cis the lower portion," upon which the two upperportions CL o,Y bed, and from this illustration it will be quite clear that the bar or piece g extends well across the joint h.

In the modification, Fig. 4, the bar or piece g is shown as iitting within two longitudinal grooves f and fi, the one groove, f, being Within the under side of the upper portion a and the other groove, t', within the top surface of the dange e of the rail portion c, the groove 'i being formed in the portion c at the time the latter is rolled. In this modification the copper or other suitable har or piece g, as well as forming an electrical bond or connection, provides a key, which in a degree assists in the staying of the rail portions laterally. The grooves in the rail portions to receive the bar or piece g may be provided only at the parts of the portions where the said bar or piece is applied, but to roll them the full length of the rail portions is preferable, as the invention is not confined to the use of a shortlength copper bar or piece g, although the latter is preferably as short as possible consistent with a good electrical connection.

It will be clear from the drawings that there roo as the rail portions a ct simply drop onto it when they are being placed in position over the rail portion c. The cross-sectional shape of the groove and of the copper bar or piece g may differ so long as these parts can t into each other to give a good electrical contact and are capable of being easily applied. The under surface g2 of the bar or piece g contacts the upper surface of the flange e of the rail portion c in the arrangements of the invention shown in the drawings, and this is preferable; but this need not, however, be the case so long as the bar or pieceV makes good contact with the two rail portions o. a.

It will be understood that the position of the groove or grooves and the copper bar or piece in respect of the two portions ot' the rail a, and c would depend upon the particular cross-section of these portions, it being, of course, a feature of the invention, in whatever form it may be carried out, that the electrical bond is concealed and that the bar or ent, is-

l. A tramway-rail comprising a base, web and tread portion, said tread portion formed of a plurality of sections, each of said sections having on its lower face a groove, the groove of one section registering with the groove of the other section, a bond mounted in said grooves and engaging the web for bridging the joint between the said sections, and means for securing said base and tread portions together,` said tread and web portions when set up inclosing said bond.

2. A tramway-rail comprising base vand tread portions, said base portion having a horizontal flange, said tread portion formed in sections and seated uponA said flange, means for connecting the said tread and base portions together, each of said sections of said tread' portion having its lower face provided with a groove, the groove of one section registering with the groove of the other section, and a bond mounted in said grooves for bridging the joint between the said sections, said bond inclosed by said tread and base portions when they are set up.

3. A trainwayrail comprising base and tread portions, said tread portion formed of a plurality of sections, said base portion provided with a groove, said tread-sections having their lower faces provided with grooves registering with the groove of the base portion, and a bond mounted in said grooves for bridging the joint of the said tread-sections.

4. ,A tramway-rail comprising tread and base portions, said base portion provided with a iiange, said tread portion seated upon said ange and depending at one side of said base portion, means extending through the base portion and the depending part of the tread portion for securing the said portions together, said tread portion formed of a plurality of sections, each having its lower face provided with a groove, the grooves of one section registering with the grooves of the other sections, said grooves arranged over said flange, and a bond mounted in said grooves' for bridging the joint of said sections, said flange and said tread portion inclosing said bond when the said base and tread portions are set up.

5. A tramway-rail consisting of an upper and a lower section, said lower section comprising a base and a web terminating in a horizontal flange, said upper section comprising a tread portion and a "depending iiange, said depending iiange extending parallel to said web, said upper section having its lower face provided with grooves, a bond mounted in the said grooves, and means extending through the depending flange and said web for connecting the said sections together.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY MALCOLM BIGWOOD.

HORACE MALCOLM -BIGWOOD Witnesses:

GEO. DRURY,

HARRY DAVIS. 

